World AIDS Day 2012

Imphal, 01st December 2012

Twenty-five years ago, on 1st December 1988, the first World AIDS Day was observed starting a long march with determination and a clear public health and human rights mission. That determination and mission have remained unchanged today as we observe this day again. The Centre for Organisation Research & Education (CORE) Manipur took a pro-active stance since the early 90s against discrimination and promoting humane care for People with HIV and AIDS as the crucial foundations of a preventive strategy to fight this the world’s most destructive pandemic in recorded history. We remember our dear friends who left us for heavenly abode in our struggle to achieve our goal on this special day.

After extensive consultations among people living with HIV, health activists and civil society organizations, “Getting to Zero” is the ambitious and visionary theme selected by the World AIDS Campaign (WAC) to commemorate this year’s World AIDS Day on 1st December. The new theme, that will be used until 2015, echoing the UNAIDS vision of achieving “Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths.”

According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), AIDS has killed more than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007, and an estimated 33.2 million people worldwide live with HIV as of 2007, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 2 million lives in 2007, of which about 270,000 were children. These figures have continued to grow.

The pandemic has had deep and lasting adverse impacts of not only health but on national and world economy, the environment, human and family security and the attainment of human rights for all. There is no room for complacency for us all, whether we are health or human rights activists, health professionals, civil society or a citizen of Earth. We at CORE believe that “zero discrimination” is a critical priority or work in order that we continue to uphold ourselves in striving towards “zero AIDS related deaths”.

(Dr. Laifungbam D. Roy)
Convenor

CORE Centre for Organisation Research & Education
Indigenous Peoples’ Centre for Policy and Human Rights in India’s Eastern Himalayan Territories
NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations